Randall — Legend, myth or the Best knives ever made?

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Permalink Reply by Frank Stennett on July 5, 2011 at 18:47

Been collecting pocket knives for years. When I decided to get a fix blade I remembered someone had mention their liking the Randall knife. I now have 2 Randalls that I am most proud. Maybe one day a Halo and then a Mini.  

Permalink Reply by Shlomo ben Maved on July 9, 2011 at 12:54

Well, I love Randall Made Knives, I have fourteen different models at present and about to get six more that have been ordered for a few years and will be shipping in Aug/Sept.-- my wife, my daughters and myself all ordered the knives (2 blade limit) at the same time hoping I'd get them for my 60th birthday, last March, but six months late is better then never.

As to the best knives ever made, I'll say NO as I have other makers of equal or better workmanship for around the same cost that are available with a shorter wait time...If you were to say one of the the best makers in the $250 to $500 range (of course and higher but the average blade is $375 of the 61 models they offer) then I'd agree with you in an instant or even one of the top ten makers

Have they been elevated to such high esteem because of workmanship vs. cost or because of their long wait period (four plus years)...Something like Busse knives making only one (seldom two) blade style(s) a year and if you don't like it you have to wait for when he decides to make one that you'd buy and if he has already made it, chances are slim to no way in Hell will he make them again--he built in his own collectability but why he calls himself a custom maker is beyond me?

The first custom knife I ever bought was a Model 12-8" Randall Bear Bowie back in 1969, followed by a Model 1-6"" and a Model 2-5" a few months later...The Model 12 was just a bit too long for getting into half-tracks and sitting comfortably so I shifted it to a shoulder strap on my pistol belt..

Permalink Reply by Andy Voelkle "AxeMan" on January 30, 2012 at 22:53

   I'm happy as a cat to have started a very interesting discussion. Really can't argue with you guys. I'd like to opine that discussions in our Randall area are more meaty than some groups where nobody explains their opinion and observations, where simple disagreement rather than explanation and discussion prevails, etc.

   Much of my love of Randalls comes from using them in the field, so I'll explain why the old guys (or was it the incomparable actor Alan Ladd?) put the recurved and moderately sharpened tip on this fighting knife: as a tactic, stabbing is far more effective and quicker than slashing. The latter might take 60 seconds even if done decisively.

   A tactic called "raking" uses a backslash of the tip across any target skin. Such a wound irritates far more sensitive surface nerves than a sharp slash. The terrible distraction, in the following few seconds, often leads to a strategic error on the receiver's part and decisive final attack against him.

   Stabbing, raking, and slashing. I was lucky enough to have a class by an early teacher of the "thrust-slash" school. I would add "rake" to that.

   It is fitting that mankind's oldest and most useful tool (and, I suppose, weapon) is made in so many designs by so many talented craftsmen, artists, and makers whether by forging or stock removal or both together. An awesome bowie, James. There may be others closely similar, but that one is yours completely.

It pleases me to think all the knives we carry in war or on hikes will outlive us all by centuries, and someday fan out in all directions from Earth, carried by our ancestors to successful colonies so very far away. And maybe to an unforeseen bug hunt.